Friday, July 31, 2009

I am so excited to find yet another new to me challenge site. How much fun is that? It is called 2 Sketches 4 You and this is their sketch #31 Here is my card

Not sure I am in love with it. I am playing around with floss and hand stiching. I really like kindered spirits. This is for my hubby. He got some not so fun news from work and I wanted him to know I believe in him and it will all be okay.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

This card was a combo challenge for the CPS Sketch #126 and the new technique challenge at Stamp TV called Joseph's Coat . Here is the sketch for CPS Now I needed to pick out a solid stamp to do the Joseph's Coat technique. I hadn't inked up my seahorse, so I thought this would be a fun time to try. I then needed to do a little sea horse investigating as I couldn't really remember what color they were. The only thing I could remember from the aquarium was a not fun brown color. Well here are the two beauties I found online

How stinking colorful are these guys?

Here is my card

Didn't the color on the seahorses turn out fun? This card is a birthday card for my brother and I think he will like the fun multi colored sea horses. I also like the fun colored buttons. I picked up the clear buttons in a Basic Grey button pack that I got at the GKD store durning my last visit. I wasn't sure when I was going to use the clear ones, but they worked out neat on this card. The blue is from PTI enchanted evening (on a side note, I spilled my spring moss last night and there are a bagillion button in each color, LOL!!!).

I then found this Lime Rickey dsp from Basic Grey and I really thought it looked like water, so I added it right away. The last step was some corner rounding and gel pen work.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Well this has been a fun week already! My Dad came home from the hospital today. He is still really weak, but he is home and that is great. It turns out he had 5ths disease on top of shingles and that is what pushed him to the hospital. My friend who watches Izzy for me while I work has a little girl who is 4 and she just had surgery to put tubes into her ears, so we wanted to make her a get well card.

I decided to use this color inspiration from Jazzy Inspirations blog that my blogging friend Steph turned me onto. It is a really neat site and I adore the 2 challenges I have participated in so far. Here is a close up. It was so hard to see some of the fun details on this card. This little lamb had fun glitter cheeks and white flock on him as well.

Here is the completed card

Another blog I check a ton is Kristina's and she talked about a friend of hers Jennifer, so I had to go and check out that site as well. I must admit I am cronic for buying tons of things that I think are "must haves" and then not using them. Stickles and Liquid Pearls are among that list. I found some fabulous vidoes with some really neat ideas on creative ways to use them. I had to try it right away and here is one of the effects.

I scored my card every inch in two different directions and then used the liquid pearls to hightlight the intersections. The neat tip that I learned was to tap the back of your card to make the liquid pearl flatten and loose that tip. Isn't that a neat accent? I added the stiching again and this stiched black ribbon that I just can't seem to put down lately LOL!

Izzy made a card and I didn't get a shot of it, but it was cute needless to say. Izzy also decided that Audrey needed a sheet of My Little Pony stickers (Izzy then got the other sheet) and a butterfly balloon (of course Izzy then needec a butterfly balloon as well). Needless to say this was a good day for Izzy and I think we brightened Audreys day as well.

I am really enjoying star prints more and more. This card was for a June Verve release sketch challenge. As I am sure you have noticed, I really enjoy Verve sketches! Here is my card

This is for a good guy friend of ours. It is so challenging for me to make male cards that don't look the same LOL. I think this star prints set will really help me with that. I really like the color blocking on this one as well. I am also gravitating more towards my white gel pen versus my mat pack and paper piercer.

I have also noticed a trend with my stamping purchases. I think it happened when Stampin Up went to a catalog twice a year. I used to write long lists and not feel like I have to buy everything at once. If I didn't get everything on my list it was okay! Well I just noticed last month when I almost put in a "must have" order that I had a shift in my thinking. I had every pack of dsp Stampin Up offered on my list. I have tons of paper here that is unused and I don't need all of the new dsp on my first order. Needless to say I am going to really explore all of my stamp sets more fully before feeling the need to buy tons more! Thanks for letting me get through all of that.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

I made this card for a CPS sketch and I never submitted for some reason. This is not the current sketch, but I still like the fun card. Here is the sketch This is my version.

I was lucky enough to win a free stamp set from There She Goes a while back and I really like this image. This is going to a fun friend out of the area. I really am trying to get better about sending cards to let loved ones know when I am thinking of them. I used nesties and ribbon as fun accents on this card.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

I am so excited to participate in the Papertrey Ink blog hop again. I adore this night! THE CHALLENGEI have been experimenting a lot with text lately, whether it be in the form our or recentaddition Background Basics: Text Style, some of our text patterned papers or even oldbook print. I'd like to see your twist on anything text integrated into a fun project! Cut it,punch it, tear it, distress it, paint it, ink it, brayer it, stamp it, stitch it, layer it. Use it as abackground, border or a focal point. Use several text styles on one project or just focus on asingle look. Try a technique layered on top of text like emboss resist or watercoloring. Youcould even run it through an embossing folder. Most of all, have fun and experiment!Branch out and try something new! We look forward to seeing all of your fabulouscreations!

Here is my cardI really liked the little star in star prints, but I didn't really know how I was going to use it until I read the challenge for this month. I knew I wanted to make my own dsp with a fun phrase and star effect. I added some fun button accents and some sassy raspberry ribbon. The black layer really helped it pop. I have also just stated experimenting with off center main pannels. This is out of my comfort zone of everything symetrical, but I am enjoying the results.

Thanks for looking and for making the 25th one of my favorite days of the month.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Well I know a lot of my fellow stampers are fellow Christians as well. If you wouldn't mind saying a prayer for my Dad that would be so appreciated. He is in the hospital right now with shingles and diabetes complications. Needless to say I have been praying a lot and if you could say a prayer as well I would be so grateful. My Dad's name is Noel and he is 54. Thanks again. Here is the color combo I found from another new to me challenge blog called Color Throwdown. Here is the challenge Here is my card

The scripture is "Trust in the Lord with all you heart, and lean not on your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5

As you can imagine I really need to memorize this verse this week. I am going to give this to my Dad tomorrow. I also read Dawn's blog and she mentioned embossing with clear embossing powder on vanilla cardstock. I had never done this before, so I wanted to give it a try. I really added such shimmer to the card. I LOVE IT!!!

I also used my water color crayons on the fun big flower from the retired SU set Fabulous Flowers. I added the pearl accents in the leaves or what I colored as leaves. I also added some spring moss polka dot ribbon and paper piercing to balance the other side. I know my Dad will like it as well. Izzy is going to make him a card tomorrow morning and I will be sure to take a picture for you as well.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Well, I had to go ahead and post again today. I just saw this fun blog candy that Steph is offering for a fun new color challenge site that I just found as well called Jazzy Inspirations. It is a super fun site that has the best Jazz music on it. The only thing I can't figure out is if this the current challenge or not. I hope so! Okay isn't that a neat idea. The colors are bright yellow, bright green, white and black. Here is my card

It came together quickly, which is rare for me. As I was looking through all of my dsp, I came about this one from Stamipin Up. It is from some new dsp (I will add the name later sorry!). I just cut out the three chicks and then added this fun new sentiment from PTI that says Hey there, chickadee. I think the fun button and ribbon accents finished this card just right.

I hosted the Bible study girls last night and my good friend Missie and her daughter Arwen made this fun dessert that my daughter Izzy LOVES!!! It was really easy with crushed oreo cookies and french vanilla pudding. They layered them and it was tons of fun, so we are going to send this to Arwen as a thank you.

I must admit I adore Verve sketches. I think they always produce a fun jumping point for a card. This is a card I made for the Verve June release sketch challenges. Here is one of the sketches This is my card

It is a birthday card for my cousin Matt. We got to see him when we visited Flordia in May and Izzy loved the pool, so I decided to incorporate that in the card. The sentiment is on the ball and it says let's party. I really love Melaine's animals. They are tons of fun to work with and I really hope there are more coming :)

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Well today Izzy is right here and she wanted to put a picture of her up LOL! We decided on this fun one from our vacation. She loved the indoor water park and asks to go stay at the hotel often. Onto the card. I made this card for one of the Viva La Verve challenges with a twist. The twist on this one was to use one and only one piece of dsp. I must admit I have really enjoyed using many matching dsp in one card, so this was a fun challenge for me.

Here is my card

I really like how this turned out. I am sending this to my Aunt who lost her husband in February. Her anniversay is coming up and I just wanted her to know that I remember and I care. This set Not Forgotten is from Gina K Designs and I think this is one of the best sets for letting people know you care about them long after the loss of a loved one.

This is my day with Izzy and she is really ready to get going to the store. Apparently that is the most fun thing to do, LOL!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

I am so excited to say that I have my newest Papertrey Ink order in the house. Now you need to know that my PTI list is about a mile long and a girl can't buy everything LOL! I was able to get one (yes only one LOL) set this month. I went ahead and got the new Everyday button bits stamp set. I must say it is stinking fun, the sentiments alone are fabulous!

Of course I had to get it out for this Viva La Verve twisted sketch challenge. This week we had to incorporate scoring. Super fun. Here is my card

Here is a close up of the scoring and the paper piercing.

Well what do you think? This is just one of the build an image stamps in the set. The sentiment is hard to read, but is says sending you a smile across the miles. Stinking cute. I am going to use this for a fun how are you doing card for one of my college friends.

The other thing I tired to do was to let the white space and my dsp work for me without tons of layers and such. I really do like the effect. I think in retrospect, I would have used the white gel pen rather than the paper piercing.

Monday, July 20, 2009

As I said earlier, I have a ton of anniversary cards to make. Thankfully I also have a lot of fun couples in mind. For this card I combined the technique challenge over at Stamp TV which was Smackin Acetate and this sketch from Card Positioning System #125. Here is my take on the sktech

Isn't that smackin acetate technique a really fun way to make a background. I loved how my sunset sky turned out. I adore all of the different colors and movement I ended up with. I always thought it would be really hard and take a whole lot, but I just needed markers a stampin up box and a water spritzer. If you really want the skivy on how easy this is I really encourage you to check out Stamp TV, Gina has the best tutorial you are going to find.

The rest is pretty easy just some paper piecing for the balloon and crystal effects over the balloon. The bottom is just some dusty durango polka dot ribbon inside out put through a really neat button from Papertrey Ink. Oh, the saying is from the new Papertrey Ink set Everyday button bits. I really love the sayings in that set. I have made one card with it and I think it is going to be stinking fun!

Before I get to my post for the day, I had to share some of Izzy's creations. These are some of her Father's Day cards. She is really into being a ballerina and so we had to make ballerina cards with glitter for Papa and Daddy. Isn't that fun. Now just so you don't think I am crazy, I didn't let Izzy glitter alone. She picked out the colors and told me where she would like them and then I glittered.

The best part is when she is all done with a card she really likes she says, "Take da picture Mom." How stinking funny is that?

Anyway, this is one of the cards I made for the Viva La Verve June challenge. The twist was to use something new.

Here is my take on the challenge.

The new things are the grid dsp and the stamp set that I used wasn't new to me, but I had never used this cute strawberry. Can you even believe it? My Dad works really hard on a fun garden for all of us. When I was pregnant with Izzy he started it right away. He said his Grandma and Grandpa always had berries in their garden and he needed some of his own for his grandchildren. Isn't that cute. Needless to say Izzy loves the strawberries and raspberries that Papa grows.

Good morning! I wanted to share this quick post with you today! As of right now you can pre-order the fantastic Whiff of Joy Fall Kit and to celebrate they are giving away two free kits! All you have to do to win is show their blinkie on your blog and link back to the store! I have never used their stamps, but they look super cute.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

I am working on my August cards that I need for my family. I have a ton of anniversaries in August. It must be the month for that here in Illinois LOL! This month Verve has a really neat Project Parade. Here was our challenge for this month "The idea for this theme came from being asked "How do you come up with your designs?" and various other "How did you do that?" type questions. This month the Verve Divas are going to break down their design processes and ideas, using Verve stamps."

Well I have enjoyed the first two Verve Divas explain their thought process, so I decided to play along. I can't say I have ever really thought about this before. First I really like to start with a challenge. For this card I saw this challenge over on Stamp TV. It was to use red, black and white.

Once I get my challenge or challenges that I want to do together, I then look at the list of cards I need to make. I usually make cards for someone not just because. It really makes me feel good to send them out and I really like remembering others and blessing others in this way. So this is for our friends Kelly and Geoff. Once I get to this point, I look through my stamps for something that will work for what I needed.

I just got my newest Verve stamps and in it was Kindered Spirits. I really liked the images. I loved this center piece, but I think I am now going to need oval nesties LOL! If any of you have this set, will this work on the center piece? Anyway, the card just flowed from that point on.

I am now going to go and put the 5 ponds of blueberries we picked yesterday up. My Mom and I are going to go back on Tuesday and pick some more. We are real blueberry people LOL!

Friday, July 17, 2009

I am so stinking excited to particiapte in Dawn's Raspberry Suite challenge again. She is such a sweetie and has be best color combos ever. I am never this bold, but she has pushed me to try new things and usually I LOVE IT!!!! I have only missed one due to vacation and next time I am bringing more supplies so I can get the card done even then. Here is her latest color combo. Here is my creation

Didn't that turn out fun? I must admit when PTI came out with Scarlet Jewel a few months ago I didn't get the ink or paper just the buttons and some ribbon. Big mistake! I thought I never use Bravo Burgandy from SU and I have tons of that, so I will just make it work. Not again. A girl can have tons of colors right LOL!

Anyway I adore the scarlet jewel buttons and really like how it worked with the women of life stamp set. I don't use that nearly enough, so it was fun to break that out and get it inky. It worked really well with the card I needed to make for my Sister-in-law Giana. Her birthday isn't until September, but I really like to work ahead.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

I am loving Papertrey's Star Prints set for little babies. Who would have thought, LOL! A good friend of mine just had a little baby boy and I really wanted to make her something special. I combined this with the Card Patterens bounus sketch #26 Here is my take on the card

I also made a first year DVD tin. Here is the front

This is the opened tin

The front page of the scrapbook

The first month scrapbook page

Isn't that the cutest thing ever??? The idea is you take out the page and write the details for the month. One the flipped over page or the back of the previous month is where you would put your favorite picture for the month. It is really neat.

I used some more yummy cosmo cricket dsp that I got while on vacation. I think this is the perfect little boy dsp. For someone who has the most girly girl ever, this is always hard for me to switch over to boy land. Hope you enjoy the fun scrapbook DVD for the baby.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

I have been waiting for a new color challenge for a while now. It seems like forever since I was able to join one. You can't even imagine my excitement when I saw all of these fun colors from Kristina's Color inspiration #56. I also combined this with a very interesting challenge on Stamp TV. It was by Mealine Muchinger (one of my favorite stamp designers!). The challenge was to stamp a line art stamp on dsp and then color it in so that you could still see some of the pattern through the coloring. WOW this was such a new idea for me!!! Anyway here is the color combo Here is my card

What do you think? Isn't this different. The clouds are colored in with a white gel pen and the rest I colored with Stampin Up markers. I used soft sky dsp, so the blue was a little softer than the challenge blue, but I thought that might be okay. You can see the pattern in the kites. I didn't really know where to put my sentiment, so I put it on the inside. It says " You lift me up!"

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Can you believe that I have all of my Birthday cards made for quite some time and usually months in advance and I still can't get them out on time!!!!! I am a little disappointed in that. I think that next year my resolution will be to make the cards (clearly I have that down) and then get them out one week before they are needed. That will be a positive way to add to this great new habit.

This is the card for my mother in law Kass. I used this sketch for the Verve June release challenge. Julie the owner is a sketch geneous! This is my version

Isn't that fun! I used all PTI. I love the Damask Designs set. It is so verstile and yummy! I also am embrassing Melon Berry. I didn't really like that color, but it is making a comeback in my stamping room for sure.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

I am so excited about this weeks Viva La Verve sketch with a twist. The twist was to do poppin pastels with the sketch. I have been loving my pastels if you haven't noticed, so this was just up my alley. There was also an AWESOME video at Stamp TV about poppin pastels. Here is my take on the challenge

Needless to say I really like how this turned out! This is for my good friend who just got engaged. I have known him since my early years. He is such a fixture in our family and I adore him. The inside says "You're quite a catch!". I think my good friend will like this and I like that it didn't go too girly on me.

If you haven't checked out Stamp TV, you need to go right now! Not only is it a fabulous resource, but you can also win Gina K Design sets just by participating. Come on that is the best thing ever!!!!!

I have just discovered that The Cuttlebug Spot is having a contest - "The Journey to 1,000"! They are trying to reach 1,000 followers by the end of July and need your help. To enter all you have to do is go to their site, sign up as follower and complete a few easy steps and you could win a $1,000 gift certificate to Custom Crops (www.CustomCrops.com)! GO NOW and check it out at www.TheCuttlebugSpot.com

As you all know, I adore challenges. They really get me out of my normal comfot zone. One of things I had such a problem with before was color. There have been so many challenges this past few months that have not only pushed me, but also they have taught me how to look around and get inspired.

The latest color challenge from Stamp TV is no exception. The challenge was to get inspiration from flowers in your garden. Well I have some really fun and surprisingly dark pinks, oranges and reds in one section of my garden right now. It is really fun and sassy. LOVE IT!!!!

I combined this color inspiration with the Viva La Verve sketch with a challenge. I adore this challenge as you all know. I have the sketch below and the twist for this one is distressing. I must admit I really don't now much about distressing, so I went with ink on all of the edges and the Baisc Grey dsp looked distressed to me. I am going to have to explore this a little more it really is not something I normally do at all, but I am always open to new ideas.

Here is my fun card

Isn't that so much fun!!! One of the goodies I got while visiting the Gina K Designs store was the ecletic summer Stamp TV kit. I really like how many fun elements you get in one set. When you pair that with the sayings it is a sure hit. I also love the dsp that they have as well. I also got the 6X6 pad of lime rickey so I have 2 different scales of the same paper. I think that was a fun element as well.

I added some orange glitter over the orange elements in my hot air balloon. Again I can't say enough about the quickie glue pen that GKD sells. It has made not only attaching small pieces so easy, but also adding glitter. It is a life saver.